Korea takes 4th World Cup mixed team title

All four athletes on the recurve mixed team match field of play – from Korea and Denmark – spoke Korean.

Top seeded individually in the recurve men’s and women’s competitions in Odense, Ku Bonchan and Choi Misun paired to shoot in the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final mixed team event against host nation archers Maja Jager and Johan Weiss.

Korea won its fourth circuit title in the competition since it was introduced in 2009 – and second in a row, following Mexico City 2015, where Choi won with Kim Woojin.

Moments before the match began in Odense, there was confusion in the Korean squad.

The archers had thought Woojin would shoot with Misun – but it was Olympic Champion Ku who had been put down on the entry sheet. Both men took the news in stride, and Ku – who had just walked out of the arena after his individual quarterfinal win over Weiss – turned himself around and went straight back out.

After splitting the first set, Korea shot a perfect 40 in the second and 38 in the third to win two consecutive sets and take the match.

“It’s very meaningful to win this competition. I’m very happy that it happened after things didn’t go well for me in Rio,” said defending individual Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion Choi Misun.

First seed in Rio, she suffered an early exit that left her off the individual podium in her Olympic debut. She still walked away with gold from the women’s team competition.

Rio 2016 Olympic Champion Ku Bonchan and Choi Misun advanced to the last four in the race for individual titles in Odense.

The 2016 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final runs 24/25 September in Odense, Denmark.